AVS 47th International Symposium
    Surface Science Tuesday Sessions
       Session SS-TuP

Paper SS-TuP17
Dodecanethiol on Cu(110) Studied by Low-temperature STM

Tuesday, October 3, 2000, 5:30 pm, Room Exhibit Hall C & D

Session: Poster Session
Presenter: A. Kühnle, University of Aarhus, Denmark
Authors: A. Kühnle, University of Aarhus, Denmark
T.R. Linderoth, University of Aarhus, Denmark
E. Laegsgaard, University of Aarhus, Denmark
I. Stensgaard, University of Aarhus, Denmark
F. Besenbacher, University of Aarhus, Denmark
Correspondent: Click to Email
Monolayers of alkane thiols, primarily on Au(111), have been studied extensively as model systems for self-assembly. A number of UHV-STM investigations have been carried out at room temperature adressing the structure of different phases formed from low coverage where the molecules are lying down to higher coverage where they are standing-up.@footnote 1@ Very little is known, however, about the diffusion dynamics of the individual molecules or the quantitative details of the initial nucleation and growth of molecular aggregates on the surface. We have recently initiated a programme to investigate such questions using a home-built UHV-STM operating at variable temperatures down to 25 K. For dodecanethiol [CH@sub 3@(CH@sub 2@)@sub 11@-SH] deposited onto Cu(110) at a sample temperature of 110 K we find the formation of an ordered overlayer structure with molecules lying with their backbone parallel to the surface. There is thus considerable molecular mobility on the surface already at this temperature. We are currently extending these experiments to lower temperatures where the diffusion of individual molecules can be followed by time-lapse STM. @FootnoteText@ @footnote 1@ G.E. Poirier and E.D. Pylant, SCIENCE vol. 272, 1145, (1996).